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THE ODEON INNOVATION LAB BLOG (2/5) – PROJECTS (1)

April 2017

Here are short summaries of some of the many ideas we’ve tested across Europe in the last year:

Disney Junior - free and exclusive events

In Q1 2017, ODEON collaborated with TV channel Disney Junior (the number one commercial children’s channel in the UK with kids aged 4-9). The project? To deliver the first ever Disney Junior interactive cinema experience in the UK and Ireland, across 79 cinemas, and showing never seen before Disney Junior content. This partnership focused on delivering a free Disney Junior themed event aimed at children 2-7 years that hosted bespoke content and premieres of TV episodes exclusively in our cinemas. In January, guests had the chance to watch brand new episodes of Doc McStuffins and The Lion Guard and, in March, families had a first-look screening of the brand new show Mickey and the Roadster Racers. In between episodes, families were invited to engage with the interactive content by playing, dancing and singing a-long with their favourite Disney Junior characters on screen.

ODEON chatbot – Gruvi

ODEON was the first cinema chain in Europe to launch an intelligent showtimes chatbot back in November 2016. We worked with Gruvi to develop the tool with an AI dedicated to help guests research film times and book tickets via Facebook Messenger in an innovative and pretty fun way. The chatbot works by providing useful, timely information that is tailored to the guest’s location and film choices. This virtual film assistant allows the ODEON guest services team to focus on helping guests with non-standard queries via messenger, while the chatbot deals with standard showtime queries.

Demand.Film – cinema on demand

ODEON has partnered with the cinema on demand company Demand.Film since Q1 2016. Together we’ve effectively organised crowd-sourced screenings of niche/special interest content which would usually not be available for regular theatrical release. It allows like-minded people and fans to group together to fund a private hire of the content. Over the last year, ODEON has had some success with web anime content and environmental documentaries. This January we had our biggest success with screenings of Embrace, an inspirational and moving documentary about positive body image. At several screenings, guests had the opportunity to meet and discuss with Taryn Brumfitt (filmmaker and movement leader) during Q&As. The film has now had more than 95 screenings, and more than 9800 guests and demand is still growing.